Thursday, May 24, 2012

The adventure of picking up trash

Yesterday is a sacred room in your heart
where you keep your memories. Here you cherish laughter from another day. You
hear melodies of half-forgotten songs. You feel the warmth of a hug from an old
friend. You see the lingering glow of a long-gone love. From your yesterdays
you draw lessons and encouragement to pass along to others.

---Writer Barbara Johnson, Joy Breaks Devotions

Birds are great
entertainment

Birds continue to discover my window sunflower seed feeder.
Besides the House Finches, recent visitors have been Canyon Towhees,
Black-headed Grosbeaks and Brown-headed Cowbirds. Just today a Blue Grosbeak –
the first one I’ve ever seen – discovered the seed that I spread on the ground;
it’s just a matter of time before he finds the window feeder.

The feeder also had a surprising
visit by a Bullock’s Oriole (according to my bird books, they are not seed
eaters, so I assume they are just curious). Later the Oriole discovered the
hummingbird feeder on the other side of Jeremiah and has been enjoying the
“nectar” (sugar water) I prepare for the hummingbirds.

The White-winged Doves still have
not figured out how to get into the feeder! I’ve had fun imagining its thoughts
as a dove perches precariously on the slick, slanted feeder top. “How do those
birds get in? Let me try again – oops, missed again, how embarrassing. I’m know
those other birds are laughing at me!”

Refilling
my two hummingbird feeders is a daily chore. I sure enjoy my window feeders – I
can look at birds even with my nose on the inside of the window and they don’t
know I’m there

My campsite

I have a great campsite with a covered picnic table that
gets plenty of use during midday.
That’s the time I head out with a tall tumbler of iced herbal tea (favorite is
half peppermint tea and half green tea), and my current book. Even though
Jeremiah has good air conditioning, I prefer to sit out where there is a breeze
to keep me relatively cool. I have finished reading Clive Cussler’s ‘LostCity’ and Pastor Max Lucado’s “In
the Grip of Grace.

More interesting
people

A
couple from New Zealand
spent a night here. This is their seventh trip, and on four of them –
including this one – their goal, besides touring our country has been to
buy US-made motor homes to take back to New
Zealand. Between here and the west
coast, they will be giving away/throwing away all the electrical components
(they won’t work in their country). They will have their motor home sent
to their country via cargo ship.

One
night we had two sisters: one from Arkansas,
the other from Dallas. Made me
think of last summer’s trip with sister Linda.

Bass
fishermen from Albuquerque
area had a frustrating time – between the low lake water and the muddy
water – and in spite of a variety of odd-looking lures; the largest bass
hooked in two days was a measly 2 and ½ pounds.

Four
campers were here specifically to see Sunday’s solar eclipse. And it was a
full eclipse in this part of the country. As I wandered by their campsite
in early afternoon, they gave me some “safe solar glasses” (think 3-D
cardboard glasses with mylar as lenses). Thankfully the sky was mostly
clear, making the eclipse very visible. I walked around the campground
letting folks use the glasses to enjoy the eclipse. What a thrill!

The
Baumgardners – they were having a mini-reunion. Wendy and Dayna are
sisters and aunties to Lee, Ava and great aunt to Liz. Fun folks – I used
them as guinea pigs to demonstrate how a tarantula walks. We were laughing
a lot.

And there always are
some people I wish had stayed home. One night I was awakened by the lights
of six or seven vehicles as they roamed the two camping loops. It was about
10:30. Eventually five of the vehicles settled in a campsite right across from
me, and proceeded to be extremely loud, disturbing me and other nearby campers.
When they still hadn’t settled down by 11 p.m.,
it was time to call for help. Note: I do NOT go out after dark. After a phone
call to Sheriff’s dispatch; two State Police cars arrived less than 20 minutes
later. Shortly after their visit with the rowdy crowd, they settled down.

Trash pickup has been
a major project

I’m making good use of my pick-em-up tool. From the looks of
stuff I’ve found, the previous host has not considered this important. Of
course, I’ll cut him slack since I understand that he recently turned 90 years
of age! He is remembered fondly by the regular campers.

Hundreds
of cigarette butts; a couple cigar butts

Hundreds
of beer and soda caps; one from a TAB
soda (is it still made?)

Hundreds
of aluminum pull tabs – including some real old ones

Hundreds
of plastic bag ties and plastic bag clips

Candy
wrappers and sucker sticks (left over from Easter?)

Wads
of tangled fishing line

Rusted
steel-wool pad

Numerous
tent stakes, some bent and some not

Money
– so far I’ve picked up two dimes, three nickels and nine pennies!

And on a last note, if you need to get in touch with me,
please call. The Internet service here is weak and occasionally nonexistent,
making it difficult for me to get email. (email address in carolinarizona2@aol.com)

It’s not officially summer, but the heat has arrived at Santa
Rosa Lake State
Park. The thermometer on the sunny side of my
motorhome has been reading in the mid to high 90s. No complaints from me,
though – I grew up in the Phoenix
area and lived through temps higher than that.

Life is meant to be a grand
adventure to enjoy through all its seasons.

With a busy Memorial Day weekend ahead, I’m posting this on
Thursday instead of Friday.Remember
to be thankful for all our veterans and current military folks – we owe our
freedom to them.